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Drinking & Partying : Impact on Fitness, Fat Loss and Mental Health…

25/12/2018Share this

At LEP Fitness I work with lots of young people, in fact 7 out of my 22 current clients are below the age of 25 (33% of overall clientele!)

It can be a great era of your life! I remember my Uni days (man I sound like an old man!) when i’d be going out 3x per week, drinking at least 5 pints per night, tequila shots, and all sorts of other nasty spirit concoctions! lol!

On my way back from the night out (usually 12pm! because I was always hammered! lol!) i’d stop at a takeaway shop and buy a kebab or a burger.

Then the next day i’d wake up feeling like I’d been 10 rounds with Anthony Joshua! I’d quickly reach for the paracetamol, down a load of water and then when I started to feel slightly better i’d have the munchies and eat something like a ‘meal deal’ from Tesco or order a Dominoes Pizza!

Then 2 days later I was back to square one, ready for my next night out!

Not very healthy hey?

I was lucky though because I was very active, for example I was training 5-7 days per week at the gym (doing 2 hour sessions) I was also walking a lot and dancing in the evenings (with moves like Jagger! lol!)…

This meant that I didn’t gain any weight and I somehow managed to keep myself in good overall condition. I guess you could say I balanced things out (although my liver may disagree!).

Lots of people weren’t so fortune – they came to uni looking slim but after 1 year of partying and eating junk ended up 1-3 stone heavier!

Socialising Is Important…

As humans it’s important that we have friends and socialise. It’s inbuilt into our nature and there’s an underlying need to be part of a troop – this goes back to the caveman days(from a survival perspective – you’re stronger in a pack compared to being alone)

I totally understand the need to go out, party and have a good time with friends. It’s a great thing to do and I wouldn’t begrudge anybody from doing it.

One thing I will say though is to what extent you do it and how it makes you feel?

If you go out get wasted and have 6 hours worth of fun, but the trade off is that you feel rubbish for the next 3 days, eat loads of crap whilst you are hungover and gain weight…

Then you’ve got to ask yourself the question…

Is this worth it? and am I happy to continue on this path?

I’m not calling anybody out, i’ve been in some terrible ruts in my time…

I’m not afraid to admit that at University I drank heavily and smoked lots of Bob Marleys home grown (that’s the street name for marijuana!). I got myself into some real pickles and spent months abusing my body, which made me feel depressed – at timesjust trying to keep my head above water.

I was easily influenced and would follow the crowd and I paid the price for my actions. I failed my first year at uni, and nearly got chucked off the course for 5% attendance!.

Partying And it’s impact on results…

There’s absolutely no doubt about it that drinking copious amounts of alcohol will make you feel lousy. For one you wont feel like training! You’ll also damage your liver, and place stress on your body as it tries to flushes out the toxins and attempts to rebuild the damage. It will also affect your mood, joints, thoughts, to name but a few.

Alcohol will alter your hormones and you’ll increase fat storage if you don’t burn off the calories from food and booze. You’ll also likely store body fat in unwanted areas like the stomach, and thighs.

BUT i know you probably already know this! I’m just pointing out the obvious.

It’s like SMOKING…

Everyone knows that smoking kills… BUT around 8 million people in the UK still smoke!

Final Thoughts…

Some people can go out and just have a couple of drinks, others can go out with zero alcohol. For me I used to have to get hammered because I lacked confidence! Not a good way to be.

There’s no doubt about it that partying will affect results, but then I also see the positives to going out to, especially the social interaction and how dancing and talking with others can make you feel good.

Partying can be a good thing, but it can also be a negative thing.

Is it serving you in a positive way? or impacting you negatively?

Maybe you’re going out too much, drinking too much. Instead of stopping going out altogether, can you not cut back?

If you can’t cut back then ask yourself WHY? and delve into the reasons – lots of the time it’s due to a lack of confidence (as in my case), peer pressure, fear of being rejected by friends for not going out… “for not letting your hair down!”, etc, etc. Delve into these insecurities and look for better ways to cope.

One thing i’d like to point out is that last thing i’m trying to do in this post is PREACH. I have no right to preach because i’ve been there done that and gotten the t-shirt! I’m just trying to give a perspective based on my own experience. I wish I’d had the confidence, knowledge and wisdom that I have now back in my uni days (but I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing!)